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Quarterback still a question mark for Georgia Southern

Lee Chapple and Antonio Henton probably didn’t know what the phrase meant coming out of their respective high schools.

Chapple started at quarterback for Greater Atlanta Christian since his sophomore season. Henton won the Peach County quarterbacking job midway through his junior year.

Differing collegiate tracks brought the two prep stars to Georgia Southern. Now, with Saturday’s season opener against Georgia in sight, they are neck and neck in competition to take the first snap.

“If we were at home, I’d have the stadium announcer introduce both of them as starters,” Hatcher said this week.

Four weeks of preseason practice haven’t settled anything. Chapple and Henton display spurts of good play, sometimes followed by head-scratching decisions.

The first quarterback to show Hatcher some consistency will bark out the Eagles’ first signals, maybe win the job for good.

That could happen today or Thursday, maybe in Saturday’s warm-ups.

“You have to love competition or you’re not in this sport,” Chapple said. “It’s new to me to be battling for a job, but playing the position, you always have to battle. ... It hasn’t been bad because it makes you progress every day.”

Henton isn’t complaining either.

“We’re going into the (Georgia) game thinking two guys over one guy,” Henton said. “(Hatcher) sat us both down and said be ready.”

Hatcher reiterates both will play, almost a mantra for the last two weeks of questioning. Hatcher hasn’t determined whether the quarterbacks will alternate possessions or quarters.

“Personnel-wise, we know who (Henton and Chapple) are, but scheme-wise we don’t know much,” said Georgia coach Mark Richt, who has watched a combination of last season’s Georgia Southern tapes and some old Valdosta State tapes to prepare for the Eagles.

Chapple and Henton have similar abilities. Neither will dazzle you with speed, but both are mobile enough in the pocket to create time when protection breaks down.

They are both dart throwers, who show accuracy delivering the short toss, a key to the spread offense, which is designed to create space and force one-on-one confrontations with defenders. Unfortunately for Hatcher, both quarterbacks have a tendency to force passes into coverage.

Chapple, a redshirt freshman, finished spring workouts as the Eagles’ No. 1 quarterback heading into preseason. The position was the Eagles’ biggest question mark because Jayson Foster graduated, and Foster was a one-man show, producing more than 3,000 yards of total offense and winning the Walter Payton Award, which is given to the top player in the Football Championship Subdivision.

Chapple didn’t have long to enjoy his new status. In June, Henton transferred in from Ohio State. Henton, a sophomore, played for Eagles offensive coordinator Rance Gillespie at Peach County.

“If one of them has the better week of practice, that’s the one who will start,” Hatcher said. “Each will play in the first half.”

The indecision to name a starter so close to game time makes it seem as if a key detail is being left undone. However, you only have to look back to Georgia Southern’s 2007 season to realize the virtues of a coach’s flexibility. Hatcher broke away from his philosophy of running the spread offense and inserted run-first quarterback Foster. The Eagles won seven games and came within inches of winning the Southern Conference championship.

And you only have to look back to Georgia Southern’s 2006 season to see how inflexibility can short-circuit any plan. That season, coach Brian VanGorder insisted on a pro-type offense despite having a nucleus of triple-option players. As a result, the Eagles finished with a program-worst three victories.

Whatever the choice, both Georgia Southern quarterbacks will have quite a challenge against Georgia’s staunch defense.

“They always say to be the best, you have to beat the best,” Chapple said. “We’re all going to have a chance to test our skills against the best team in the nation, and that makes it exciting.”